Were Their Hands Painted Red?

Nothing saves time for the cops like lawbreakers who document their own misdeeds.

It didn’t take long for Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to get the picture when they stopped two young men in a car with Canadian plates that was filled with paint supplies and a digital camera.

They weren’t down here to paint a house. The camera contained numerous photos of graffiti, some thoughtfully signed by the suspects, reported the Star News, a publication of the Sheriffs’ Relief Assn. One photo, in fact, showed one of the guys in the act of decorating a wall.

Talk about painting yourself into a corner.

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Avalon secedes: I’ve heard of tourists asking officials on Santa Catalina Island what type of money is accepted there, what time zone it’s in, etc. Still, I’d always thought of the island as part of California until I saw the shocking headline in a publication of Reef Seekers Dive Co. of Beverly Hills (see accompanying).

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Whoops! Guess I didn’t notice the April 1 date of the Reef Seeker publication.

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Now that’s snooty! R.L. Biller of Palm Desert acquainted me with a golf club that’s so exclusive, even members aren’t allowed to play there (see photo). Actually, the sign pertained to a construction site on the club grounds.

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Yummy: Among the items on the block today at the Space and Aviation Memorabilia Auction in Bell Canyon are some leftovers from space shuttle flights, including never-opened packages of macaroni and cheese, shortbread cookies (see photo) and chicken noodle soup, each expected to bring at least $30. No old Tang to wash it down with, though.

Of the chicken noodle soup, the auction catalog said: “Guess no one had a cold on the shuttle.”

Unclear on the concept: The FBI is on the hunt for the “Honda Bandit,” so called because he robbed a Torrance bank while wearing a Honda sweatshirt. Yet he made his getaway in a car described as possibly a Toyota Corolla or Camry. Tricky, very tricky.

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No getaway car material here: Suzanne Moore of Long Beach saw a car ad with enough plot lines for a reality series (see accompanying).

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Should it be “The Four Bears”? Venida Korda of Van Nuys, a pre-kindergarten teacher, said that during a reading of “The Three Bears,” the class was asked to identify a puppet of the male character.

“That’s Papa Bear,” one student said. Then the female puppet was held up. “That’s Papa Bear’s new girlfriend,” declared a 4-year-old boy.

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miscelLAny: If the column moved a bit slower today, it’s because I just observed my 60th birthday. To celebrate the milestone, I was going to swim 60 laps at my local pool. Instead, I slept in an extra 60 minutes.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.